Video transcript

We open tight on
the face of an innocent looking child. We slowly pull out and see that he's
sitting in a single car seat on a stage.

He is driving an
imaginary car, waving as he is let in by an imaginary driver.

We see the boy
looking over his shoulder as if to check for traffic. His arms are being
supported by strings.

We pull out a
little wider and the boy appears to reach for an imaginary cell phone to read a
text message. Suddenly he looks up from the phone and corrects his steering. He
shouts and gesticulates angrily towards an imaginary driver.

We continue
pulling away from the child until we see that the strings are attached to his
father in the driver's seat.

We see the father
perform a mirror check, before pulling out his mobile phone to talk as he
continues to drive. Each action from the father is mirrored by the boy.

Parents - driving role models

Children learn more from your behaviour that you may realise. How you drive can have a huge influence on your children, from an early age, and the type of drivers they will be in the future. Using this research, we have created an ad to show this as we work towards the long-term goal of no lives lost or serious injuries to the next generation of drivers.

In their first year of driving, young drivers in Victoria are almost four times more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury crash than more experienced drivers.

This means 18-25 year old drivers remain over-represented in road trauma, despite the dramatic fall in lives lost on our roads since 1989. In 2016, 19% of drivers who lost their lives on our roads were in this age bracket; however this group represents only around 10% of Victorian licence holders.

Towards Zero

The TAC is aiming for a future where there are no lives lost or serious injuries on our roads. Find out more about Towards Zero here.

There is now considerable evidence that parents play an important role in preventing problem behaviour developing in their children by being positive role models.

Social Learning Theory* shows that humans learn many of their behaviours by observing other humans. The theory shows that certain types of models and outcomes are more influential than others.

For example, people are more likely to imitate behaviour if the role model:

has a positive, or desired outcome, from their behaviour,

is liked or respected by the observer,

is considered attractive or powerful by the observer, and,

if the observer sees similarities between themselves and the model.

Research also supports social learning theory where a parent who takes risks transfers this behaviour onto their children**. Similar findings have also been found with relation to driving styles.

It was also found* that gender played a role in the role modelling of driving styles. These findings support other studies that have found that men's driving styles are influenced most by fathers and women are influenced by both parents.

Research shows that children begin absorbing their parents' driving behaviour from a very early age. This means children begin learning how to drive long before they get their learner's permit. Positive role modelling by parents can have a huge influence on how children drive in the future and instilling safe practices and attitudes from a young age is a key factor in achieving our long-term goal of no serious injuries or lives lost on our roads.

We recently asked a group of young children to draw a picture of a time an adult was driving and how this made them feel. The results give every parent or carer food for thought about how their driving is seen by their young passengers and a reminder to make every drive a good example.